Fragaria vesca subsp. bracteata

Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Low growing herbaceous annual, acaulescent, scapes emerging from short rootstocks, these emitting short runners. Hairs of the scapes and petioles spreading or reflexed. Leaves: Trifoliate, leaflets obovate or wedge-shaped, with short-cuneate bases, leaflets deeply incised along the veins, margins dentate, borne on long petioles, pubescent, thin. Flowers: White, large and showy for the size of the plant, with 5 petals, the petals broad and rounded, stamens many, yellow, pistils numerous. Fruits: Achenes embedded in pits of the large, fleshy fruit (strawberry!), fruit shallowly pitted, the seeds superficial. Ecology: Found in meadows from 7,000-9,500 ft (2134-2896 m); flowering May-September. Notes: Strawberries! You are lucky if you find them. Look for this species under Fragaria bracteata. Differentiate fro the other Fragaria species in Arizona, F. ovalis, by the appressed hairs, thick, glaucous leaves, oblong-ovate to spatulate leaflets with few teeth, and deeply pitted fruit of F. ovalis. Ethnobotany: Used as a disinfectant and for sores, used for stomach complaints, taken for diarrhea and dysentery, used widely as food, as a tea, and as a life medicine. Etymology: Fragaria comes from the Latin fraga for strawberry, while vesca means little and bracteata means bearing bracts. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011